The present invention relates to eyewear having temple portions that provide improved and more secure fit independent of head shape or size.
Generally, eyewear, such as spectacles and sunglasses, is composed of a front and two temples (or earstems) extending rearwardly from the front for securing the eyewear on the head of a wearer. Commonly, the temples are one-piece temples connected to the eyewear front by hinges. A drawback of such conventional eyewear is that when a wearer engages in physical activity such as active sports, the eyewear may not fit sufficiently securely on a wearer's head. A further drawback is that these conventional temples may not fit satisfactorily a wide variety of head shapes or sizes.
Several approaches have been proposed to make eyewear with temples fit more securely.
As a first example, the temples may include earpieces at the ends of the temples that wrap around the ear of a wearer. As a further example, the hinges connecting the front and temples of the aforementioned eyewear may have a spring action to bias the temples toward the head of the wearer.
More complicated temple designs have been proposed wherein eyewear includes adjustable temples, such that a wearer can manually adjust the degree of bias of the temples against the head, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,204,749 and 4,848,891. Additionally, it has been proposed to secure eyewear better by including frictionally engaging members on a portion of the temples, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,204,749 and 5,054,903.
While the aforementioned approaches address better securing the eyewear to the head, a drawback of the above approaches is that a relatively small area of the temple contacts the head when the eyewear is worn. Similar to the aforementioned conventional temples, the temples have no or minimal contact with the side of the head forward of the wearer's ears. Additionally, the temples may not fit satisfactorily a wide variety of head shapes or sizes.